First, a prologue: the other day a former T.A. of the writing intensive course (Comm 3050) that I am T.A.-ing this semester told me that he was surprised that the Comm Dept would have a second-year PhD student T.A. for that class because it is so work-intensive. He felt that it should only be students who are done with coursework who would be teaching a class that takes so much time. His words affirmed for me what I have been feeling this semester, which is that I seem to be a teacher first and student second. I feel constantly behind the 8-ball in my own classes, and regret that I don't currently have the mental space to be blogging all the time or daydreaming about what I might be doing for my project in English 8040.
That being said, there are a few directions that I would like to explore.
1) Part of the process of training to be a pastor is learning to listen with an open heart and mind. I was trained in Rogerian reflective listening as part of my pastoral care & counseling work, and have done some personal study of spiritual direction (I love the concept of "holy listening"). I have also had wonderful models of holy listening in mentors who have been a part of my journey. I will never forget Gordon Lathrop, my liturgy professor and chaplain at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, who likened the process of receiving and caring for people's deepest concerns to an image of carefully carrying a precious, beautiful bowl filled with milk.
It seems to me that there is something that a spiritual perspective on listening could contribute to the process of "arguing differently." If we are hoping to speak the truth in love and hear the other person's truth, so that we might come to some sort of mutual understanding, rather than just fight it out, then listening is crucial.
Heaven knows we haven't done it very well all the time in the church! One has only to witness the fights over glbt issues to see that. But the ideal is there, and dealing in ideals is often my modus operandi (just call me Platonic).
So one thought would be to do a combination of a theoretical/theological paper on the contributions of spiritual listening to the process of argumentation PLUS a curriculum for a seminary class that would explore the connections. Since I see one possible future trajectory for me being a seminary professor, that would be a useful combination. Another take on that would be to make it more pan-religious, as if I were going to teach in a department of religion at a university.
Another thought would be to make it a longer, strictly theoretical paper, aimed at the Journal of Communication and Religion, looking at the connections and discontinuities between spiritual listening and persuasive rhetoric. There is the whole history of Christian "apologetics," but truthfully studying that doesn't interest me in the least, as it tends to be the province of a particular form of fundamentalism (here are the rational reasons why my religion is better. yuck).
2) On a completely different note, I have a strong interest in environmental protection and animal rights, and have been interested for some time in developing an approach to political communication that honors what I call "the organic polis." How can we see animal and ecosystem "voices" as equally valid and honored participants in our political debates? Can "arguing differently" include those voices? Again, I would be interested in developing a theoretical paper as well as a syllabus around this set of questions.
I think all your ideas sounds great and full of potential in many directions. The first topic that you present seems to be really interesting either as a theoretical paper, a study, and or course curriculum. I like the idea of exploring the intersection of religious rhetoric(s) & arguing differently. Also, I like the idea of exploring positive examples of religious rhetoric that exemplify arguing differently.
ReplyDeleteYour last idea idea about the intersection of communication and ecology makes me personally think of campaigns (shocker! ;)as well as lobbying efforts of animal rights groups. There may also be connections to be made about the consumption rhetoric around animal products and competing voices, or even looking at different cultures and their (rhetorical?) relationship with animals - ie: religious beliefs that influence, familial practices, connections between how people treat their animals and how they treat people....
I look forward, like always, to seeing where you go.
I didn't fully understand where you were going until I heard you talk about it in class last week. You said something like 'recovering the voices of those parts of our ecosystem that have no voice.'
ReplyDeleteThat idea has been with me since then, and I think that you have some real space to work in. But how can you, say, account for the voice of those poor puppies in the mill? How can you account for the voice of something less concrete, like the voice of the Gulf of Mexico's ecosystem in the wake of the BP disaster? What would this sound like? How would these new discursive entities impact/affect/change the way we see arguments about these things? Lots to think about here RevCat. I'm eagerly waiting to hear more!